Electronically mediated forums are digital forums where messages may be posted, viewed, and engaged with. For example, well known electronically mediated forums include social network websites (e.g., Facebook®, MySpace®, and Twitter®), blogs, conventional websites, etc. The unifying characteristic shared by each of these different types of forums is that they all allow users to post messages that other users can interact with. As used herein, a message may include textual content and, in some instances, may be associated with media content (e.g., a sound-clip, an image, a video, etc.). For example, a message posted on Facebook® may include (i.e., be “associated with”) an image, such as a photograph of the poster of the image.
Many conventional electronically mediated forums allow users to post messages on specific pages dedicated to those users (e.g., a user's individual Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter page). Other users of the forum may then view the posted message and interact with it. Users may interact with a posted message in a variety of ways. For example, merely viewing a posted message (e.g., by navigating to the page containing the posted message) may constitute interaction with that message. However, users can interact with a posted message in more intimate ways as well.
For example, users can interact with a posted message by posting a comment in response to the originally posted message, indicating that they “like” the originally posted message, denoting themselves as a “fan” of the entity responsible for the posted message, sharing the posted message and/or address of the page containing the posted message with other users, re-tweeting a posted message, etc. Additionally, where the originally posted message includes, for example, a link to another webpage where a user can purchase a product/service described in the posted message, a user may interact with the posted message by clicking on the link.
Increasingly, entities are recognizing electronically mediated forums as valuable channels for both advertising and market research. For example, many companies now have their own Facebook page. Companies often use their Facebook pages to post messages announcing the release of new products and services. These message are essentially “micro-campaigns” meant to engage a target audience in various ways and, in some cases, incite them to action (e.g., motivate the target audience to purchase the product and/or services described in the posted message, recommend such products/services to others by forwarding information, etc.). Other entities besides corporations have been utilizing electronically mediated forums in similar ways. For example, many rock bands now have their own electronically mediated forum page wherein they can post messages in order to engage with their fans, announce concert dates and album release dates, etc.
Despite the heightened awareness regarding the value of electronically mediated forums as a means of reaching a target audience, little has been done in the way of determining how message characteristics (i.e., characteristics of a posted message) effect audience interaction with that message. That is to say, conventional tools for analyzing audience interaction with a message posted to an electronically mediated forum have proven themselves incapable of determining what about a given message (i.e., what characteristics of a message) prompts certain interactions with the message. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide techniques for determining the effect of characteristics of a message on interaction with the message over an electronically mediated forum.